The key to whether such a scenario might be realised is resolution: the more frequently the readings are taken, the more information can be gleaned, and the more information about the lifestyle of households is divulged. As such there is a balance that could be achieved that maintains the infrastructure benefits and protects the privacy of the individual.

The issues do not end with privacy, however, because there are operational security matters to consider, ranging from non-repudiation to meter hijacking. The Netherlands recently rejected smart metering for a whole host of reasons; the decision to implement such a system must be taken very carefully and with a high level of public input.

The first issue is meeting the confidentiality, integrity, availability and legal privacy requirements relating to the information collected by the meter and supplier. The dataset collected will contain personal information (names and addresses and payment details), consumption and usage patterns at an individual and aggregate level and demand and forecasting information. This information is valuable - to criminals, hackers and the organisation - and may prove to be a tempting target for misuse or attack by malware.

The second issue is the physical and information security of the meters themselves. The meters are envisaged to have a life of 20 years or more, so will need to be resistant to physical attack and have mechanisms to upgrade, patch and enhance the device and its software. Additionally, the devices will probably have to be managed remotely and on a massive scale.